The present invention relates to an integrated lamp and fascia system for a vehicle.
Head lamps are required equipment on motor vehicles. Often vehicles are also equipped with fog lamps to provide additional lighting while driving in inclement weather or simply as a styling feature. Some states mandate that forward-projecting lamps are capable of being adjusted for tuning vertical aim of the light beam. To meet this adjustment requirement, lamps typically include complex bracketry and fasteners for securing to the vehicle bumper or fascia. Often the attachment brackets are cantilevered, which may lead to dynamic shake and stability concerns. Further such bracketry consumes much packaging space in an area of the vehicle that is generally packaging constrained.
The present invention is directed to an integrated lamp and fascia system, which includes a lamp housing secured within a pocket of the fascia. The fascia pocket is defined by two side walls, a bottom wall, and a rear wall. The rear wall has a fixed portion, a flanged portion, and a cross car hinge seam about which the flanged portion flexes. The lamp housing is mounted to the flanged portion. An adjustment means is provided for altering the vertical aim of the lamp. It includes an adjustment clip, mounted to the fixed portion of the rear wall to provide a vertical extension thereto, and an adjustment screw, accessible from a forward surface of the lamp housing and extending through the lamp housing and the adjustment clip. Turning the screw either moves the upper region of the lamp housing closer to or further from the pocket rear wall by rotating the lamp housing about the hinge seam to adjust vertical aim of the lamp.
This system provides the capability to adjust the vertical aiming of the light beams while eliminating bracketry and fasteners commonly used for this purpose. The system also provides a more robust attachment scheme thereby minimizing dynamic shake and stability concerns.